In 2011, Popular Hot Rodding magazine joined forces with the Goodguys Rod & Custom Association to sponsor five action-filled muscle car autocross events at Fort Worth, Texas; Nashville; Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis; and Del Mar, California. As you probably know, Goodguys already operates their Street Machine Autocross at most of their events—at least at the venues that are large enough to handle such an activity, but we decided to make a few of them even more special.

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For the PHR Street Machine autocross, any domestic car with a domestic powerplant built between 1955 and 1972 can compete as long as they are entered in the Goodguys car show. Most of the autocross circuits are at least 30 seconds in duration, and some of them—like the ones at Indy and Del Mar—can approach a minute in length. The goal is to run the fastest lap through the tight track without knocking over any cones. The competitor with the quickest lap time wins a custom-embroidered PHR Street Machine Autocross winner’s jacket.

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Goodguys also has separate classes for street rods, trucks, and vendors, but all of them run intermixed during the same sessions. Typically, over the course of a three-day event, there will be five autocross sessions: two on Friday (9 a.m. to noon, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.), two on Saturday (9 a.m. to noon, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.), and one long one on Sunday (9 a.m. to 2 p.m.). Another cool thing Goodguys added for 2011, which they plan to continue for 2012, is the Super Sunday Get-Together. This Sunday-only program allows all cars, including late-models of any year, into the car show and autocross. We think it’s overdue, and we applaud Goodguys for doing it.

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The Fall Del Mar Nationals was held Thanksgiving weekend—November 25-27, 2011—at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in Del Mar, California. It was the last of five PHR-sponsored Goodguys autocross events for 2011, and Mary Pozzi of Salinas, California, won the last PHR jacket by posting the lowest lap time with her LS2-powered ’72 Camaro. Pozzi’s winning lap of 50.274 seconds had the crowd against the fence as she deftly slid and sliced her way through the cone forest. Pozzi joins Brian Finch (two times), Mike Maier, and Mark Rife as PHR Street Machine Autocross winners in 2011. Congrats to all four winners for their incredible building, tuning, and driving skills!

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’69s O’ Plenty!

Just so you don’t think we’ve lost our collective minds, we haven’t forgotten how much you guys love ’69 Camaros. Here’s three juicy ones to tide you over. The blue SS/RS was built at home by the owner, Chris Robinson (San Diego), and features a 454ci GM big-block crate motor, a mix of Global West and Hotchkis suspension bits, and a built 200-4R overdrive. The black ’69 with white rally stripe was also built by its owner, Doug Renner of Lake Forest, California; it motivates via a 406ci small-block, T56 six-speed, and a combination of Speedtech and Alston suspension. Lastly, the Amethyst Red ’69 (which looks almost black) belongs to Mat Alcolo of Escondido, California. Built by Best of Show Coachworks in Escondido, this capable handler has all DSE suspension, an LS2 bullet, T56 six-speed, and Wilwood binders.